A switch module includes a switch integrated circuit (IC), an InP chip, and a planar lightwave circuit (PLC). The InP chip may include a plurality of light sources, an optical splitter, and a plurality of modulators.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An optical module for a switch, comprising: a plurality of chips with a plurality of light sources, configured to generate light, the light sources on a particular chip configured to generate light at about a common wavelength for that chip, with light sources on different chips configured to generate light at different wavelengths; a plurality of optical splitters, with each optical splitter having inputs and outputs and configured to split light generated by one of the plurality of chips; and a plurality of modulator arrays on a silicon photonics chip, with each of the plurality of modulator arrays including a plurality of modulators and configured to receive electrical signals from an electronics chip, to modulate light provided by one of the plurality of optical splitters based on at least a portion of the electrical signals, and to generate modulated optical signals; a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) coupled to the silicon photonics chip and configured to combine the modulated optical signals from each of the plurality of modulator arrays into an optical signal.
2. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of optical splitters are on the silicon photonics chip.
3. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of chips configured to generate light are Indium Phosphide chips, and the plurality of optical splitters are on the Indium Phosphide chips.
4. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein only one of the plurality of light sources from each of the plurality of chips is activated at a particular time.
5. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of chips comprises four lasers.
6. The optical module of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of optical splitters comprise four optical splitters with each optical splitter comprising four inputs and four outputs.
7. The optical module of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of modulator arrays comprise four modulator arrays with each modulator array comprising four modulators.
8. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein the PLC comprises multiplexers, each of the multiplexers configured to multiplex the modulated optical signals from each of the plurality of modulator arrays and configured to generate the optical signal on a wavelength selective basis using the modulated optical signals.
9. The optical module of claim 1 , wherein coupling of the silicon photonics chip to the plurality of chips is performed using MEMS coupling.
10. An optical module for a switch, comprising: an InP chip including a plurality of light sources for providing light, a plurality of optical splitters having a plurality of inputs and outputs and for use in splitting the light provided by each of the plurality of light sources, and a plurality of modulators for modulating light received from the plurality of outputs of the plurality of optical splitters and for providing modulated optical signals, outputs of a switch IC chip coupled to the plurality of modulators for providing electrical signals for use in modulating the light received from the plurality of splitters to generate the modulated optical signals; and a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) optically coupled to the InP chip and positioned to receive and combine the modulated optical signals from the plurality of the modulators into an optical output.
11. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise lasers.
12. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise optical gain chips.
13. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein each optical splitter is a 4×4 splitter having four inputs and four outputs.
14. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein the PLC comprises a multiplexer for combining the modulated optical signals, the multiplexer having a plurality of inputs and an output, the multiplexer configured to produce the optical output on a wavelength selective basis using the modulated optical signals.
15. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of light sources comprise four lasers, the plurality of modulators comprise four modulators, and the optical output is produced on a wavelength selective basis based on four wavelengths.
16. The optical module of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of modulators comprise Mach-Zehnder modulators.
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March 21, 2017
January 8, 2019
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